Sir Magdi Yacoub honoured with lifetime achievement award - Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust Sir Magdi Yacoub honoured with lifetime achievement award Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub scooped the top prize at this week’s star-studded Pride of Britain awards. Sir Magdi, who was a consultant cardiothoracic surgeon at Harefield Hospital for more than 20 years, was honoured with a lifetime achievement award at the celebrity-packed event that was broadcast on ITV yesterday evening. The Pride of Britain awards honour members of the public for truly outstanding achievements. Sir Magdi was singled out for his unending commitment to heart and lung transplantation and for advancing the boundaries of scientific research. In their coverage of the glittering awards, the Daily Mirror said, “…If there was one man capable of providing a finale to such riches of the human spirit, it was heart surgeon Sir Magdi Yacoub…It [is] impossible to imagine the sheer numbers of people who owe their lives to this one man.

Few of us will wake up tomorrow capable of being a Magdi Yacoub, a man legendary even amongst his peers.” Sir Magdi, 71, has performed more transplants than anybody else in the world - saving thousands of lives across the globe. In total, he has performed approximately 20,000 life saving heart operations. The professor, originally from Egypt, moved to Britain in 1962 and took up his first consultant position at Harefield Hospital in Middlesex. The hospital soon became renowned as the world’s leading transplant centre performing more than 200 transplants per year. In 1983, Sir Magdi became the first person in the UK to perform a double heart and lung transplant. In 1987, he went on to pioneer and perform the UK's first domino heart transplant - where a patient receiving heart and lungs donates their own heart to someone else. Sir Magdi is also credited with performing an operation on the UK's youngest heart transplant patient at just 10 days old. Dr Gavin Wright, consultant anaesthetist at Harefield Hospital, outlined why he has been privileged to work closely with him.

Dr Wright said, “Sir Magdi is an incredibly skilled 'thinking' surgeon with vast experience in all spheres of cardiac surgery, ranging from babies to the elderly. He operates on extremely complex heart lesions that many other surgeons would not even attempt. This is what makes him so special." Sir Magdi is also professor of cardiothoracic surgery at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, and founder and director of research at The Magdi Yacoub Institute at the Harefield Heart Science Centre which is dedicated to research into heart disease. In 1995, he founded the Chain of Hope charity which provides children suffering from life-threatening diseases in the developing world with corrective surgery and treatment. The charity estimates that the lives of 1,000 children have been saved so far thanks to their work.

To view highlights from the awards, visit the Pride of Britain’s website at or ITV’s website at More about the Chain of Hope can be found at Sir Magdi Yacoub on Britain’s contribution to medical science - Announcements - GOV.UK Sir Magdi Yacoub on Britain’s contribution to medical science From: First published: 26 October 2011 This news article was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government In a short film launched today, Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery Sir Magdi Yacoub explains why he chose to become a heart surgeon, and why he thinks the National Health Service serves as a model for the rest of the world. The film is one in a series featuring individuals from home and abroad talking about their experiences of modern Britain in the run up to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Born in Egypt, the son of a surgeon, Sir Magdi Yacoub qualified as a doctor in 1958 at Cairo University, specialising in heart surgery. He is currently Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Imperial College. Watch his short film below.

Sir Magdi Yacoub Magdi committed to becoming a heart surgeon after watching his aunt die of heart disease in her early twenties. He moved to Britain in 1962 determined that this was the country in which he wanted to practice. He went on to become a consultant cardiothoracic surgeon at Harefield Hospital. He was involved in Britain’s first ever heart transplant operation and performed the first UK live lobe lung transplant earning him an international reputation as a leader in his field. Sir Magdi has carried out more transplants than any other surgeon in the world. In the film, Magdi talks about his admiration for the National Health Service, commending its egalitarian approach in striving to offer the best healthcare for everybody. He believes this approach reflects the general character of the British people. Magdi discusses the UK’s contribution to research and remarks how as a country we’ve contributed far more in this field than our relative size. He retired from performing surgery in 2001 but continues working as a high profile consultant and ambassador for the benefits of transplant surgery. He focuses much of his time on medical research innovation, something he believes needs to be the number one priority for the future of medicine.

Under his leadership, Harefield Hospital became the leading transplant centre in the UK, reporting an increase in post operative survival rates, and a reduction in recovery periods and the financial costs of each procedure. In 1986 Sir Magdi was appointed Professor at the National Heart and Lung Institute, and was involved in the development of the techniques of heart and heart-lung transplantation. In 1995 Sir Magdi founded the charity Chain of Hope, providing children suffering from life-threatening diseases with corrective surgery and access to treatment. He is also the founder and Director of Research at the Magdi Yacoub Research Institute in Harefield. In Egypt, Sir Magdi’s Aswan Heart Centre, which opened in 2009, treats people from all over Egypt and other Middle Eastern nations, with the less-privileged receiving free heart surgery. The Nile-side Aswan Heart Centre is dedicated to surgery, treatment and research of the highest international standards, and also contributes to Egypt’s biomedical knowledge base, which is transmitted to research centres around the world.

Share this page Heart Transplants - Sir Prof Magdi Yacoub Sir Prof Magdi Yacoub Honourable President of our Charity ______ Sunday 30th July 2000 5am the professor and his team operated on me. I believe the operation took about 6 hours to perform. I never got to meet the professor before the operation, in fact I only met him by chance 3 weeks later. He was in the out patience's department chatting to a doctor, so I approached him and of course thanked him in person. Then shortly after that we met again, this time I had just had an Angiogram and was laying on a trolley outside the theatre. When the professor was passing he stopped we had a short chat while he looked at my notes. The next time we met, was only a couple of weeks later. This time I was in hospital waiting for the results of a biopsy I had just had. While walking down a corridor, the professor was going the other way he stopped and ask how I was, to my surprise he remembered my name Sunday 9th September 2001, I got to meet the professor again, this time it was just after I had taken part in the Harefield Jog.

We had a chat for about 5 minutes and we were joined by one of his daughters. I also had the opportunity to give the a pen each with the date of my transplant and the website address. I have slowly been finding out about the Professor, he is an extremely hard working man and does not get paid for a lot of his work, a least not in monetary terms. His payment is far better than that, he gets job satisfaction from helping others who are in desperate need of his skills. I would even go as far as to say perhaps he should be known as Saint Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub. This has nothing to do with the fact that he operated on me, but the more I find out the more I salute him. He doesn't even look for credit or praise for this unpaid work, giving up his free time that could be spent with his family to work and save life's, although he has recently received The Peoples Award __________ Sir Magdi, came to Britain in 1962 and started his pioneering heart surgery in 1967 before beginning work at Harefield Hospital in 1969.

In 1980 came his heart transplant operation on Derrick Morris , who went on to become one of the longest surviving heart patients over 25years post, and among celebrities whose lives he extended was much loved comedian, Eric Morecambe. ______ The Sunday Times 18th June 2001 The renowned heart surgeon Sir Magdi Yacoub returns regularly to his native Egypt to treat sick children free of charge. In Egypt hundreds of children never get treatment and die before their teens. The mood of the adults and children queuing along the long, white hospital corridor is fraught but buoyantly expectant, as though they are waiting to see a famous film or pop idol. In a sense, they are. Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub, the renowned heart surgeon, is regarded as a virtual deity here in his native Egypt. Particularly today. Today he and his British team of experts have the power of granting life, or at least the chance of it, to these children, some of the poorest and sickest in the country.

Their parents have brought them here to Luxor International Hospital in droves, many travelling for hundreds of miles on buses and trains, desperate to wait in line for a 20-minute consultation with cardiologists who will assess whether their child can be helped. If they are lucky, they will be given surgery immediately and probably be cured for life. If not — if their heart disease is so advanced that they are beyond the benefit of surgery — their parents are quietly taken aside and told that nothing can be done; their child is going to die. This is the worst part of a Chain of Hope mission. Chain of Hope is a British charity set up by Professor Yacoub in 1995 to provide free heart treatment for children from poor or war-ravaged countries. Sometimes sick children are brought to Britain each year from places such as the Palestinian National Authority, West Africa, Mozambique, Jamaica and Iraq for corrective treatment. But several times a year the team, including two surgeons, cardiologists, anaesthetists, ITU nurses, intensivists and physiotherapists, who volunteer to give up their holidays, travel on missions abroad where they work, without payment and for 13 hours a day, in the local hospitals.

In southern Egypt word has spread that Professor Yacoub — known locally as “Mr Magdi” — and his team are coming. Some of the families rose at 3am to ensure that they arrived early, the children now patiently holding their medical files in the queue. Four of the patients have travelled from the Palestinian territories. As the doctors flit between consultation rooms some parents in the queue thrust their children into their faces, pleading: “Doctor sahib, Doctor sahib . . . please help my baby.” To many Egyptians, Professor Yacoub is more famous than the President, Hosni Mubarak. Lizzie Orcutt, the photographer who took these pictures, says: “He is an incredibly revered figure, almost God-like. An interview with him was broadcast live on the TV news and people would follow him around asking to have their photographs taken standing next to him. Everybody seems to know who he is.” There is a particularly poignant moment when, possibly prompted by his parents, one 10-year-old boy named Beshoy, who has travelled from Cairo, manages to follow Professor Yacoub and present him with his file pleading: “Please will you treat me?” Professor Yacoub agrees.

As the day wears on and the atmosphere becomes more tense others, near the back of the 100-strong queue, are beginning to worry that the team will go home to Britain at the end of the day and their chance will be lost. In fact the team will stay for nearly a week. But there are only certain operations that they will agree to perform. Heart transplants, for instance, are out of the question due to the huge amount of intensive and after-care needed. The majority of operations they will carry out are on “blue babies”, those suffering Fallot’s Tetralogy, a hole between the chambers of the heart and a narrowing of the artery. Ironically, this requires more complicated surgery than that of a heart transplant but is a relatively routine procedure. Much of the surgery is also to correct defective heart valves — a condition which in Britain would normally be rectified within a few weeks of a baby’s birth. Many of the children in the queue already show classic signs of the illness. Their skin is blue — in extreme cases almost black — and the whites of their eyes are red due to a thickening of the blood caused by oxygen deprivation. They are also lethargic and breathless.

In Britain their illness would never have been allowed to develop to this stage before surgery, but for an impoverished Third World family there is no choice. One in 100 babies worldwide is born with a hole in the heart but one operation usually provides a complete cure if the child is treated in time. In Eygpt there are hundreds of children who never receive treatment and die before their teens. All the children have been referred to the charity by their local doctors. When they arrive some of the families may have to wait in the queue by the paediatric department for up to 13 hours. If time runs out they may have to return the following day. Their first checkpoint is with Dr Rosemary Radley-Smith, a paediatric cardiologist at Harefield Hospital, Middlesex, and Dr Piers Daubeney, a cardiologist at the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Trust, London, who assess and screen each of the patients. Of the 300 they see, 27 are recommended for surgery, which is performed by Professor Yacoub and his fellow surgeon Mr Babulal Sethia.

The youngest patient is one, the oldest is 15, and the operations take place, back to back, over a five-day period. Some of the intensive-care staff will stay on for a few days when the surgeons have flown home to help with the patients’ recovery before handing over care to the local hospital. For Dr Daubeney, this is his second mission. Last year he was part of a similar operation in Cairo. “It is an amazing experience,” he says. “Multitudes of people turned up wanting treatment for their children, so much so that guards had to be brought in to calm things down. Parents will be thrusting their child in your face begging you to look at them. It is so difficult because they all need help. “Sometimes it is tragic when the children are too ill for us to treat. If they have suffered from a hole in the heart over a prolonged period their lungs are put under such high pressure that they become damaged and we cannot operate.” Dr Radley-Smith, who this year won an award for her work, explains that the charity’s policy is to grant surgery only to those children it believes it can cure in order to make the most of its limited budget.

A typical mission will cost about £40,000, which makes these 27 operations an incredible achievement given that one heart operation, paid for privately, can cost £20,000. “This work is very important to us because these children are generally very poor and wouldn’t have access to this kind of treatment normally,” she says. “We tend to operate only when we are confident that it will be successful. One of the most difficult parts of the job is saying ‘no, we can’t operate because it will be too complicated’ or that their child doesn’t fulfill the criteria.” The charity was founded in France in 1988 as La Chaine de l’Espoir as part of Médécins du Monde. In 1995 it became an independent charity and Professor Yacoub established Chain of Hope UK. The name refers to the chain of volunteers needed when a child is brought to Britain for treatment, including airlines, which often provide free tickets, a host family who will provide after-care, the hospital itself and the medical team. The cost of bringing one child to Britain for open-heart surgery is £3,500. There have been dozens of success stories over the years.

There is Gerges Sami, from Aswan, who came to the UK for treatment in 1998 after a mission in Egypt ran out of time to treat him. Although he still lives in poor conditions he is now in excellent health. And there is Nesma Mahmood, who was treated in Cairo two years ago and was given surgery for a hole in the heart. The most famous patient was Arnaud Wambo, a seven-year-old boy from Cameroon. In 1996 Yacoub performed a four-hour heart operation on him at Harefield Hospital, Middlesex, watched by the late Diana, Princess of Wales, who was fully kitted out in a surgical gown. John Fisher - Magdi Yacoub - MikeDoyle Sir Professor Magdi Yacoub with his Pride of Britain Award 2007 History of donation timeline read only First cornea transplant First reported cornea transplant takes place in Olmutz, Moravia, in December 1905. On December 7 1905 Dr Eduard Zirm carries out the world's first successful cornea transplant, returning the sight of a labourer blinded in an accident a year earlier.

After a few hours the patient can see again and he retains his eyesight for the rest of his life. The operation proves that such transplants can work. Some 2,400 corneal transplants are now carried out each year. The cornea is unique in the human body as it does not require a blood supply to survive and as such it can be donated up to 24 hours after death by people of all ages. 1918 Blood transfusion established During World War I blood transfusion becomes firmly established making many life-saving operations possible for the first time. There had been many unsuccessful attempts at blood transfusion for hundreds of years but they had failed as the science behind blood was not fully understood. With blood-typing and the development of anti-coagulants blood can be stored for transfusion with far better results than ever before. During World War I the British army uses these advances to create a "blood depot" where blood is stored for wounded troops; this is the predecessor of modern blood banks. 1948 NHS established The National Health Service is established and will go on to be at the forefront of transplant technology.

When health secretary Aneurin Bevan opens Park Hospital in Manchester it is the climax of a hugely ambitious plan to bring good healthcare to all. For the first time hospitals, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, opticians and dentists are brought together under one umbrella organisation to provide services that are free for all at the point of delivery. The central principles are clear: the health service will be available to all and financed entirely from taxation, which means that people will pay into it according to their means. 1954 First successful kidney transplant The world's first truly successful kidney transplant operation is performed by Dr Joseph Murray in Boston, Massachussetts. Paving the way for the technique that has gone on to save over 400,000 lives around the world, Dr Joseph Murray breaks new ground when he and his team transplant a kidney from Ronald Herrick to his dying twin brother, Richard. It saves his life. Today kidneys are the organ most commonly transplanted, with approximately 2,000 transplants each year in the UK.

Kidneys are usually donated at the point of death, but one third of transplanted kidneys in the UK are from living donors, who usually continue to lead normal healthy lives with the use of one kidney. 1960 UK's first kidney transplant The UK's first donor kidney transplant is performed on October 30 at The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. Britain's first kidney transplant is performed by Sir Michael Woodruff. As with the world's first kidney transplant, the operation takes place between identical twins, reducing the chances of rejection. The operation is such a success that the donor is back at work three weeks later, and his brother returns to work after 15 weeks. The brothers live for another six years before dying from unrelated causes. 1963 World's first liver transplant Dr Thomas Starzl performs the world's first liver transplant in Denver, Colorado. Although the surgery itself is a success, anti-rejection drugs are not fully developed and, unfortunately, the patient does not survive. However, Starzl gains considerable knowledge from the procedure and goes on to develop many of the drugs and techniques that make long-term survival possible for liver recipients. Four years later, in 1967, the first truly successful transplant is performed.

1965 First 'non-heartbeating'donor Kidney transplant in UK uses an organ donated from a dead person for the first time. The first kidney transplant in the UK from a 'non-heartbeating' donor is carried out in November at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. A recent survey by UK Transplant indicates that success rates for 'non-heartbeating' donor transplants are very similar to those achieved for living donor transplants. 1967 World's first heart transplant The world's first heart transplant operation performed in South Africa by Dr Christiaan Barnard. Heart patient Louis Washkansky agrees to undergo the experimental surgery after he is diagnosed with a heart defect that would otherwise prove fatal. The operation is performed by Dr Christiaan Barnard on December 3. He replaces Louis's heart with the heart from a young woman. Washkansky dies 18 days after the operation from pneumonia but proves a patient can survive the transplant surgery. 1968 First heart transplant in UK Britain's first heart transplant is carried out by a team of 18 doctors and nurses in London.

When surgeons at The National Heart Hospital in London perform the transplant, it is only the tenth time the procedure has ever been performed. Frederick West is the recipient of a heart from labourer Patrick Ryan. Ryan had suffered serious head injuries and, with his familyï¿½s consent, was rushed to hospital for the surgery. Although West dies from an infection nine weeks after the operation, the procedure paves the way for around 300 heart transplants to be performed each year in Britain. 1968 First UK liver transplant Professor Roy Calne performs UK's first liver transplant at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge. The first liver transplant outside the USA is performed at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, by British surgeon and scientist Sir Roy Calne. Much of his subsequent work focuses on the improvement of immunosuppression techniques aimed at prolonging the life of liver transplant recipients. 1968 New laboratory checks for suitability The National Tissue Typing and Reference Laboratory (NTTRL) is established in Bristol to check compatibility. 1971 Donor card for kidneys introduced A card for kidney donation is introduced, establishing the idea of a card to show a person wishes to donate their organs.

As surgeons successfully perform more and more kidney transplants from non-living donors, the demand for donors increases. With the introduction of the kidney donor card the public can express their wishes to donate their kidneys, in the event of their death, by simply carrying the card. 1972 New organ matching service National Organ Matching and Distribution Service (NOMDS) is founded in response to the advances in transplant technology. NOMDS is formed to create a national database of patients awaiting transplants. Details are transferred into a computerised system that stores and sorts the data so that the best possible matches of donor to recipient can be made. At the time computers are still in their infancy, so lists of thousands of recipients have to be printed twice a week to ensure that vital, life-saving information is not lost. With the advances made by the database, 455 kidney transplants are carried out in the first 11 months that NOMDS is in operation. 1979 UK Transplant Service established NTTRL and NOMDS merge to become the UK Transplant Service.

Due to health service reforms and central funding, the National Tissue Typing and Reference Laboratory (NTTRL) and National Organ Matching and Distribution Service (NOMDS) were merged to form the UK Transplant Service. 1980 First transplant co-ordinators appointed Transplant co-ordinators are appointed for the first time to oversee all aspects of transplant care and support. Transplants are highly complex and involve a great deal of support beyond the surgery itself. The process starts with the request for organ donation and support of the donor family. It continues with the ongoing management of the donor and subsequent organisation of the donation process, including allocation of the donated organs. Co-ordinators also play a vital role in educating staff from other disciplines about this highly specialised area of care. 1981 Kidney donor card replaced The UK kidney donor card is replaced with a donor card allowing the public to offer corneas and several organs for transplant. Originally allowing only kidney donation, the new donor card is expanded to include the heart, liver, pancreas and corneas. The card is a major step in raising awareness of organ donation. Today almost 15m Britons have said they wish to be organ and cornea donors after their death.

1983 Liver Transplant Programme established The Liver Transplant Programme makes liver transplants nationally available for the first time. Liver transplants are co-ordinated through nine specialised liver transplant units across the UK, including Addenbrookes Hospital, where the first liver transplant outside the US was performed in 1963. The establishment of this programme will lead to improved patient management techniques and improved success rates. 1983 Corneal Transplant Service launches Launch of Corneal Transplant Service (CTS) with support from the Iris Fund for the Prevention of Blindness. The CTS is launched by the UK Transplant Service in October, to improve the availability of corneas within the UK. The cornea is the clear covering of the iris and pupil and corneal transplants can be vital in saving sight for many patients. Corneas can be stored for transplant for up to four weeks, meaning that the CTS can "bank" and send out corneas for suitable recipients all over the UK, reducing wastage and playing a vital role in saving the sight for some 2,000 patients in the UK each year.

1983 Combined heart and lung transplant The first combined heart and lung transplant in the UK is performed by Sir Magdi Yacoub at Harefield Hospital. Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub carries out the operation on a Swedish journalist, Lars Ljungberg. A combined transplant of this kind is said to be simpler than a heart transplant as there are fewer small blood vessels to join and just three main places where the organs are sewn into place. Ljunberg dies after 13 days, his wife and mother by his side. His body does not reject the new organs but he succumbs to a previous medical condition. 1985 Lungs added to donor card Donor Cards will now include lungs as transplants become more surgically viable. As further advances in lung transplant surgery are made, the Donor Card is expanded to include the donation of lungs. Since 1981 the card had included corneas and major organs including the pancreas, kidneys, liver and heart. 1986 First lung-only transplant The UK's first lung-only transplant provides a new lung for the recipient and paves the way for whole-lung transplants.

Combined heart and lung transplants had been successfully performed before but lung-only transplants had proved harder to perfect due to a higher level of rejection and the complex surgery needed to separate the lungs and heart. Innovations in anti-rejection drugs and the heart-lung machine to sustain organs during surgery make this single-lung transplant possible. 1986 Bristol Eye Bank established Establishment of the Bristol Eye Bank as part of the Corneal Transplant Service's national network The Bristol Eye Bank is of vital importance in British corneal transplants and ophthalmology. It collects, examines and stores corneas in readiness for transplant, as well as performing much of the pioneering research behind eye surgery. The centre plays a major role in the Corneal Transplant Service, and each year sends some 1,500 corneas all around the country for transplant surgery. 1987 Domino UK heart transplant First "domino" transplant, with the recipient of a new heart and lungs donating their healthy heart to another patient. The "domino" transplant, performed in the UK for the first time by Magdi Yacoub, means the recipient needing a lung transplant will have both their unhealthy lungs and healthy heart removed and replaced.

Their healthy heart is then transplanted to another patient. The surgery to replace both heart and lungs together is less complicated than a lung-only transplant, and domino transplants can increase the chances of successful transplants for both recipients. 1989 Manchester Eye Bank opens The Manchester Eye Bank is established three years after the Bristol Eye Bank was successfully introduced. The Manchester Eye Bank plays a vital role in the Corneal Transplant Service. It leads the way with ophthalmic practice and is part of the Manchester Royal Hospital, which has an international reputation for excellence. The Manchester Eye Bank, like its Bristol counterpart, screens and stores corneas for use in transplants all around the country, with around 2,400 corneal transplants being performed in Britain each year. 1994 National register for donation The NHS Organ Donor Register is set up to co-ordinate supply and demand following a five-year campaign. Despite millions carrying donor cards there had been no single database of those who had pledged their organs for transplant. With the launch of the Organ Donor Register it is far easier to identify a donor's wishes, and allows the public to sign up as organ donors in new ways, such as on driving license applications.

The scheme is a resounding success, with more than 2.2m having joined the database by the end of 1995. 1994 First living liver donor The transplant from a living donor is first in the UK, allowing both donor and recipients to have full liver function. Liver transplants had helped save hundreds of lives in the UK, but there is still a shortage of suitable donor livers, particularly for patients with rare tissue types. Previously, livers were taken from donors who had died, but new research shows that transplanting part of a healthy liver from a living donor could be used in place of a whole-liver transplant. 1995 Partial lung transplant First UK lung-lobe transplant from a living donor successfully performed by Magdi Yacoub. Using new techniques, this highly complicated procedure allows part of a living lung to be transplanted by removing the lobes from two healthy people to the recipient who is in need of new lungs. The major advantage is that the surgery is scheduled, meaning the recipient can begin taking anti-rejection drugs earlier, significantly lowering the chances of rejection by the recipient's body. However, it can reduce the fitness of the donors and is still a rare procedure.

2000 UK Transplant established UK Transplant takes over from UKTSSA with a new, extended remit to increase organ donor numbers As well as ensuring donated organs are matched and allocated to patients in a fair and unbiased way, UK Transplant also takes on a role to substantially increase the number of organ donors in the UK. Other responsibilities include maintaining the Organ Donor Register and providing a central support for all transplant units. 2001 First complete lung transplant The first lung transplant from a 'non-heartbeating' donor is performed by Dr Stig Steen in Lund, Sweden. The operation dramatically increases the possibilities for successful lung transplants. Lung tissue can deteriorate very rapidly once removed from the human body, which means that after death there has been very little time to test the tissue and perform a transplant. New techniques used in this procedure preserve lung tissue outside of the body for up to a week, giving enough time to fully test and match the tissue from a deceased donor, and allow more preparation time for the surgery itself. 2004 Tenth anniversary of register It's ten years since the NHS Organ Donor Register was launched.

To mark the anniversary of the register, the NHS UK Transplant launches a campaign to encourage a million more people to add their names to the register by October 2005. The Organ Donor Register enables people to record their wishes to help others after their death by donating organs and tissue for transplant. Today nearly 15m people are on the ODR. 2005 UK Transplant merger UK Transplant merges with the National Blood Service to form NHS Blood and Transplant. The work of the National Blood Service and UK Transplant has been of major significance in developing donation and transplant within the UK. Building upon their previous successes, the two merge to form NHS Blood and Transplant. The new organisation aims to constantly improve the practice around blood and organ donation, helping to save thousands of lives each year. 2005 First partial face transplant Carried out in France, the first partial face transplant makes new forms of reconstructive surgery possible. Surgeons perform the world's first partial facial transplant in France on a 38-year-old French woman left unable to talk or eat after being severely savaged by a dog.

After several months of counselling with the patient, the surgeons create a nose and lips to replace those destroyed in the attack using skin, muscle and arteries from another woman's face. The techniques used bring hope to thousands of burn victims who could benefit from facial reconstruction. 2005 Organ donation streamlined The donation process is updated with new guidelines on consent brought in by The Human Tissue Acts. The Human Tissue Authority is established in April to implement the Human Tissue Act 2004, which brought the legislation around transplants into the 21st century. This new authority regulates the removal, storage and use of organs and tissue. It also approves all transplant operations involving living donors following an independent assessment. A subsequent Act in 2006 will lead to further improvements. 2007 UK's first kidney swap Two couples celebrate the gift of life after surgeons perform the UKï¿½s first-ever paired kidney swap. The landmark transplant involves two couples from Cambridgeshire and Edinburgh, with the recipient's partner acting as the donor for the other donor's partner. Kidneys are exchanged by relay.

One donor kidney is flown from Edinburgh to Cambridgeshire and transplanted before the other coupleï¿½s donor 2007 First living liver donor in UK Retired police officer receives new lease of life from his liver-donor son. David Lomas, 20, from Cumbria donates part of his liver to his father Stephen, 51, who has advanced liver disease. The successful eight-hour operation, the first of its kind in the UK, involves two pairs of surgeons operating simultaneously in separate theatres at Leedsï¿½s St Jamesï¿½s Hospital. The adult-to-adult living liver donation offers new hope and is made possible by the introduction of the Human Tissue Acts. 2007 First altruistic donors for UK Sometimes called "stranger donation", donors can now donate organs to people they don't know. Barbara Ryder, a nurse from Cornwall, is one of four people in the UK approved by the Human Tissue Authority (HTA) to make a non-directed altruistic kidney donation. Her kidney was transplanted into Andy Loudon, a retired carpenter from Bedfordshire who had been receiving dialysis for two years.

Andy has benefited from a new form of donation that has been allowed thanks to new systems for organ donation set up by the HTA. 2008 Organ Donation Taskforce report published Containing recommendations to increase organ donations. The Organ Donation Taskforce report is published containing recommendations to increase organ donations, resulting in an additional 1,200 transplants a year. The taskforce report into the use of presumed consent recommends against adoption of an opt-out system. 2010 First face transplant takes place The world's first face transplant is carried out in Spain in March 2010. Doctors in Barcelona carried out the procedure on a patient who had accidentally shot himself in the face five years earlier. The operations, which took 24 hours to perform, gave the patient new cheekbones, facial muscles, palate, skin, nose, lips and jaw. NHS Choices 2015 BBC ON THIS DAY | 6 | 1983: Transplant makes British medical history 1983: Transplant makes British medical history The first heart and lung transplant operation to be performed in Britain was successfully carried out today.

Swedish journalist, Lars Ljungberg, underwent the transplant receiving the organs of a woman from the south of England who died yesterday. It took a team of 20 doctors and nurses at the specialist heart unit, Harefield Hospital, in north London, more than five hours to carry out the operation. Mr Ljungberg is said to be recovering well from the operation and is recuperating on an isolation ward in the intensive care unit there. Staff 'delighted' He is said to be conscious with his wife by his side. The team of doctors was headed by renowned surgeon Magdi Yacoub. Hospital administrator David Thomson said staff were delighted with the outcome. "The patient took the five and a half hour operation very well and is recovering now on a ventilator in the intensive care unit," Mr Thomson said. "Mr Magdi Yacoub has said that he is pleased with the operation and that it went very smoothly." Under observation Mr Ljungberg is likely to remain on the ventilator for another 48 hours. He had been waiting for a transplant at the hospital, for more than a month. But staff have been preparing for the pioneering and intricate procedure for several months.

The first operation of its kind in the UK, it is said be simpler to perform than a heart transplant. There are fewer small blood vessels to join and just three main areas where the organs are sown into place. Home - Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub Home Faculty of Medicine, National Heart & Lung Institute Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery +44 (0)1895 828 893 m.yacoub Heart Science Centre, HarefieldHarefield HospitalHarefield Hospital // Summary Sir Magdi Yacoub is Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London and Founder and Director of Research at the Harefield Heart Science Centre (Magdi Yacoub Institute) overseeing over 60 scientists and students in the areas of tissue engineering, myocardial regeneration, stem cell biology, end stage heart failure and transplant immunology. He is also Founder and Director of Magdi Yacoub Research Network which has created the Qatar Cardiovascular Research Center in collaboration with Qatar Foundation and Hamad Medical Corporation.

Professor Yacoub was born in Egypt and graduated from Cairo University Medical School in 1957, trained in London and held an Assistant Professorship at the University of Chicago. He is a former BHF Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery for over 20 years and Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon at Harefield Hospital from 1969-2001 and Royal Brompton Hospital from 1986-2001. Professor Yacoub established the largest heart and lung transplantation programme in the world where more than 2,500 transplant operations have been performed. He has also developed novel operations for a number of complex congenital heart anomalies. He was knighted for his services to medicine and surgery in 1991, awarded Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 1998 and Fellowship of The Royal Society in 1999. A lifetime outstanding achievement award in recognition of his contribution to medicine was presented to Professor Yacoub by the Secretary of State for Health in the same year. Research led by Professor Yacoub include tissue engineering heart valves, myocardial regeneration, novel left ventricular assist devices and wireless sensors with collaborations within Imperial College, nationally and internationally.

He has also supervised over 18 higher degree (PhD/MD) students and published over 1,000 articles. Sir Magdi has an active interest in global healthcare delivery with particular focus developing programmes in Egypt, The Gulf Region, Mozambique, Ethiopia and Jamaica. He is Founder and President of the Chain of Hope charity, treating children with correctable cardiac conditions from war-torn and developing countries and establishing training and research programmes in local cardiac units. Publications Journals Dokainish H, Teo K, Zhu J, et al.

Dokainish H, Teo K, Zhu J, Roy A, AlHabib KF, ElSayed A, Palileo-Villaneuva L, Lopez-Jaramillo P, Karaye K, Yusoff K, Orlandini A, Sliwa K, Mondo C, Lanas F, Prabhakaran D, Badr A, Elmaghawry M, Damasceno A, Tibazarwa K, Belley-Cote E, Balasubramanian K, Yacoub MH, Huffman MD, Harkness K, Grinvalds A, McKelvie R, Yusuf S, INTER-CHF Investigators close , 2016, Heart Failure in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and South America: The INTER-CHF study., Int J Cardiol, Vol:204, Pages:133-141 Professor Magdy Yacoub - King of Hearts Professor Magdy Yacoub 64 year-old Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub has saved thousands of lives and his achievements in heart surgery, particularly as a pioneer in heart transplantation, have spanned a lifetime. He has been key to the development of heart surgery.

Early life and career: Magdi Yacoub was born in Egypt in 1935 and wanted to be a "heart doctor" ever since he was a small boy. When he was seven, his 21-year-old (youngest) aunt died of a mitral stenosis (a narrowing of the heart valve), a curable heart condition... "She was very young, in her twenties, and I was left with the impression that she didn't need to die. This motivated me to become a heart surgeon," he says. From that moment on Magdi Yacoub’s ambition was to do whatever he could do to alleviate the pain and misery of people with heart disease. The son of a surgeon, Sir Magdi studied at Cairo University and qualified as a doctor in 1957. He moved to Britain in 1962 , and taught at Chicago University . He became a consultant cardiothoracic surgeon at Harefield Hospital in 1973. Under his leadership, Harefield Hospital became the country's leading transplant centre, performing over 200 operations a year.

Magdi specialized in working with children with congenital heart defects and performed complex operations on the tiny hearts of babies in their first days of life. During this period there was an increase in post operative survival rates, a reduction in the recovery periods spent in isolation and in the financial cost of each procedure. In order to remove donor hearts he would travel thousands of miles each year in small aircraft or helicopters. Most of his patients received treatment under the National Health Service , but some private foreign patients were also treated. He was appointed professor at the National Heart and Lung Institute in 1986 , and was involved in the development of the techniques of heart and heart-lung transplantation In a career spanning over four Decades, Magdi has been involved in a number of firsts. He was involved in the first UK heart transplant, performed the first UK live lobe lung transplant and the first ever domino operation, in 1986, in which one patient with failing lungs is given a new heart and lungs, with a second patient receiving the first patients fully functioning heart, in an adjoining theatre. A 1980 patient Derrick Morris was Europe's longest surviving heart transplant recipient until his death in July 2005.

Sir Magdi has always combined surgical work with scientific research, which he sees it as the key to improving patient care and ultimately eliminating heart disease. He has conducted research looking into organ rejection after transplantation and is working to produce a tissue-engineered aortic heart valve. "Operating on patients with heart disease leads you to ask, why did this organ go wrong in the first place and what can we learn about the basic mechanisms of the heart that can help us understand heart failure better," says Magdi. "There is a massive amount of heart disease in this country and elsewhere - we are almost flooded - wouldn't it be great if we could abolish it completely or, at least, reduce the numbers of people affected. My research is driven by the search to find answers to patient's problems. The more you look into a problem, like heart failure, the more you find. Heart transplants were regarded as pie in the sky when I started out in medicine. Research is a chance to help treat the patients of the future." Sir Magdi Yacoubs work is all about helping people live longer and more fulfilling lives and describes "seeing people who are not well getting so much better" as the most satisfying part of his job.

His strong sense of social responsibility led him to establish the Chain of Hope charity, which sends teams of medics to the developing world to treat children suffering from heart disease free of charge. "With all the knowledge we have scientifically, we have a responsibility to help," he says. Magdi is personally involved in the charity's missions and had just returned from Mozambique. In Prof Yacoub’s words: "Without doubt, there is no feeling in the world like seeing a child who was crippled and in pain get back on his feet, smiling, fit, playing football and going to school…Children are remarkable, they just spring back to life." As well as treating children, the charity works to build up developing countries capacity to do operations and carry out research themselves. It helped to establish Maputo Heart Institute in Mozambique, which is training doctors and investigating how to treat EMS, a neglected heart disease. This disease affects up to 15% of children and young adults and leads to premature death. The charity also brings promising doctors from Mozambique to the UK for further training. Similarly 2 or 3 children from the developing world come to London for operations each month.

"The charity is called a Chain of Hope, because of the chain of people involved in the work we do - people donating money, people acting as host families for children and people donating their medical expertise," Magdi says. Magdi's team of 75 scientists is looking at new ways they can improve heart transplantation and repair damaged hearts. One emerging area is stem cell research. Stem cells are the master cells of the body and have the ability to develop into specific kinds of cells, such as heart cells. Magdi hopes that they can be used to help the damaged heart regenerate itself and repair its own function. Currently, his team is creating heart cells in the lab. Clinical trials will be needed before stem cells can be a part of everyday patient care, but nevertheless believes that the future for this technology "could be near". He is also researching techniques to improve the treatment of valvular heart disease. Valves guard the entrances and exits of the two pumping chambers of the heart and a disease or damaged valve can affect the flow of blood and put extra strain on the heart. Magdi is exploring whether tissue engineering can be used to restore valve function. Some work is also being carried out on xenotransplantation.

However, Magdi has reservations about this area. "There are still ethical problems about the risk of introducing new infections, which could be very dangerous to mankind," he says. "There is a type of virus in the genome of the pig that could have a devastating impact if it crossed over to humans." Magdi is chairing a Royal Society project looking at how effective role models are in changing young people's view about science and engineering. The aim of project is to produce best practice guidelines and advice for organizations working in science education. "I got involved in this project because I'm conscious of the fact there is massive amount of intellect that we need to look after. I know from interacting with young researchers in my own lab, how excited and enthused young people can be about science. This enthusiasm needs to be encouraged as it contributes to the intellectual power in the community." Recent work: Having retired from performing surgery in 2001 at the age of 65, Sir Magdi continues to act as a high profile consultant and ambassador for the benefits of transplant surgery. In 2006 he briefly came out of retirement to advise on a complicated procedure which required removing a transplant heart from a patient whose own heart had recovered.

The patient's original heart had not been removed during transplant surgery nearly a decade earlier in the off chance it might recover. In April 2007, it was reported that a British medical research team led by Sir Magdi had grown part of a human heart valve , from stem cells , a first. Indeed, Magdi knows first-hand how experiences early in life can make a lasting impression. He decided to become a heart surgeon as a young boy. His father was a general surgeon in Egypt and he was fascinated by the work he did. His greatest admirers are the patients that have placed their life in his hands. In the words of one whose husband had life-saving surgery 14 years ago."Professor Yacoub and his team was the best thing that happened to us. How can we ever thank you?" Other activities and achievements: He is also notable for saving many lives by pioneering a technique for 'switching' the heart vessels of babies born with a congenital heart defect , which means they are the wrong way round. · Among celebrities whose lives he extended was the comedian, Eric Morecambe . · In 2002 he was selected to spearhead a government recruitment drive for overseas doctors.

· He has had a house named after him at The Petchey Academy which opened in September 2006. Sir Magdi Yacoub - Sir Magdi H. Yacoub in brief Sir Magdi H. Yacoub in brief Export (PDF) Professor Sir Magdi H. Yacoub ﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿ ﻿﻿Throughout years and ages, we hear that there are individuals who are stars and flags that raise the message of a science or a profession that they represent in their region and out to the world to be delivered as expected and more. For instance, when thinking of physicists, Newton and Einstein would come in mind. But, when thinking of achievements in medical professions and who were the achievers of these big changes?, we will find a lot. However, to explore more in achievers in the Arab world who practice a high risk and a serious medical specialty like Cardiothoracic Surgery, which sometimes has the last word when it comes to saving lives, we would hardly and rarely find big achievers and surely searching for that will take time. Fortunately, it was obvious to find these features in an Arab achiever and an effective Arab doctor like Professor Sir Magdi H. Yacoub.

Nevertheless, to cover a life like Sir Magdi’s in one essay is almost impossible. But, we are going to try and give our audience an overview of Sir Magdi’s life and achievements and why the world should be thankful to this person. Sir Magdi Habib Yacoub, who is a son of an Egyptian general surgeon, was born in the 16th of November 1935 in the Egyptian capital city Cairo. He wanted to be a heart surgeon since he was young. “I initially said I wanted to be a heart surgeon. Then something happened that strengthened that idea when I was about four or five years old” he said, “My aunt, who was the youngest sister of my dad, actually died of a narrow heart valve while giving birth in her early 20s”. (BBC news, 2011). Sir Magdi got his higher education from University of Cairo. He was qualified as a doctor by the year 1957.

Then, he moved to The United Kingdom in 1962 to work as a surgical officer and then a surgical registrar in London chest hospital (Coptic medical, 2011), a year after, he became a Senior Surgical registrar at the national heart hospital where he worked under Donald Ross and Lord Brock for five years. After that he moved to the United States of America to work as an assistant professor for the University of Chicago. And finally he returned to the United Kingdom to work as a Consultant Cardiac Surgeon at Harefield Hospital (Coptic medical, 2011). That was a little-known hospital that is close to London. Since Sir Magdi arrived at Harefield hospital, it became the best transplant center in the United Kingdom. The hospital was performing more than 200 heart transplant operations every year (The heart, 2011). One of his most significant operations, is the one that he performed in 1980 on Derrick Morris, who became Europe’s longest surviving heart patient. The most important thing to say is that Sir Magdi Yacoub has performed more heart and lung transplants, more than any other surgeon in the world.

The Number of the transplant surgeries he performed is around 2,500 operations (Imperial College of London, 2011). After years passed, a huge change happened in Sir Magdi’s life, for the first time in more than 30 years, Yacoub’s working day stopped being dominated by life-and-death decisions. At 65, the world’s foremost heart surgeon was forced to retire from the National Health Service but, he still practices privately (Heart Academy). Dr. Gavin Wright, a consultant anesthetist who has worked alongside him for 15 years, says: “Harefield (Hospital, part of the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Trust) owes a huge amount of its current status to him. To be king one day and the next day be told that you cannot operate here is hard. I think he is going to be very sad not to be able to do what he is so capable of doing.” Yacoub prefers to play down any feelings of indignation. “I resent it slightly, but not badly,” he says. “I will miss my NHS patients because it is a sort of love relationship that I have had with them for a long time.

But I have so many articles to write, so much research to do, so I won’t be working less in any way. I am just changing direction” (Coptic Medicine, 2011). So, that was how huge the change was that Sir Magdi was forcibly driven to. One wonders, how much of a change it made on his kind, lovely and soft feelings that are the main structure of his character. He was knighted for his services to medicine and surgery in 1991, awarded Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 1998 and Fellowship of The Royal Society in 1999. Professor Yacoub is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians and Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine. He holds honorary degrees from Brunel University, Cardiff University, The University of Southborough, University of Middlesex and also from the University of Lund in Sweden. He holds honorary posts in Lahore, Pakistan and University of Siena, Italy. He has received many awards and distinctions including the Clement Prize Thomas Award of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (Imperial College of London, 2011).

In 1989, in 1999, he was elected a Fellow of The Royal Society and presented with the Lifetime Outstanding Achievement Award in recognition of his contribution to Medicine by the Right Hon. Frank Dobson, MP, and Secretary of State for Health. In April 2004, he was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Society for Heart & Lung Transplantation. The International Academy of Cardiovascular Sciences is pleased to recognize Sir Magdi Yacoub for his extraordinary lifetime of achievements with the Academy’s Medal of Merit. This would help us realize how important, shining and honored Professor Sir Magdi H. Yacoub is to humanity (Heart Academy, 2011). ﻿﻿In conclusion, in an extremely competitive field like medicine, it is not easy to be well known internationally. Being a good doctor is not enough for that. Only outstanding individuals can make it to the international level. And definitely, Professor Magdi Yacoub is one of them. He has made a huge impact in the field of cardiothoracic surgery with the countless number of heart and lung transplant operations he performed. And not only that, Sir Magdi is also known for his support to the community.

This is why he established the “Chain of Hope”. The aim of his charity is to provide the required medicine for children who suffer from life threatening diseases (British Medical Journal, 2011). He was not working only for money, but his main target is to help people. Unlike other doctors who turned medicine into business. In my opinion, Sir Magdi is what a doctor should be. Picture: Sir Magdi Yacoub [Photograph]. (2011). Retrieved from

Question: In which hospital was the first heart and lung transplant performed by Sir Magdi Yacoub?
Answer: Harefield Hospital